Oker – Bad Harzburg railway line

Oker – Bad Harzburg

erixx train towards Bad Harzburg near Harlingerode , November 2018

Route number :

6425

Course book section (DB) :

320, 354

Route length:

6.9 km

Gauge :

1435 mm ( standard gauge )

Legend

		from Goslar
	39.1	Oker
		B 498
		Oker
		to Vienenburg
		Harz metallurgical plant
	37.4	Oker East
	35.9	Harlingerode (last stop, until 1987)
		Formerly connection to the Sievers granite works / Hansa mine
		Fracture row (formerly)
	34.2	Schlewecke (Harz) (until 1976)
		Racket
		from Braunschweig

		from Ilsenburg
	32.2	Bad Harzburg 234 m

The Oker – Bad Harzburg railway is a seven-kilometer branch line on the northern edge of the Harz in Lower Saxony . It connects Bad Harzburg to the Vienenburg – Goslar railway line and thus to the west and serves through traffic from Bad Harzburg both in the direction of Goslar - Kreiensen (- Göttingen ) and to Hildesheim and Hanover . Today it is passed through without intermediate stops. Before the timetable change in December 2014, the passenger train with the longest route was the HarzExpress from Hanover to Halle (Saale) .

History and operation

past

Today's Bad Harzburg had its rail connection with the Braunschweig – Bad Harzburg railway line as early as 1840 . In 1866 the Vienenburg – Goslar railway from Vienenburg via Oker to Goslar was connected. It was not until 1883 that Goslar was connected to the west with the lines to Seesen and Hildesheim ; Bad Harzburg was connected to Ilsenburg in 1894 . A connection beyond Bad Harzburg was planned, but was delayed further and further due to resistance from landowners and rescheduling.

With the growing rail traffic, Vienenburg station to the north had to struggle with signs of congestion. In addition, a separate rail connection was useful for several industries ( Mathildenhütte , Klages sawmill ) in Harlingerode and Schlewecke. On May 8, 1906, the Harzburg police station began preparing for the purchase of the land. The Duchy of Braunschweig took over the costs for the roads and the drainage systems, while the rest of the financing was done by the Prussian Railway Directorate. The Prussian State Railroad was only able to start operations here on May 1, 1912 . The Harlingerode station and the Schlewecke (Harz) stop were opened together with the railway line .

In the course of the construction of the Harz iron and steel works , the Oker Ost station was built from 1935 , which was primarily used for iron ore loading. The pit Hansa concluded 1938/39 on a cable car to the iron ore discharge to the station Harlingerode. After the Second World War, the importance of the railway also declined due to the division of Germany , so that the Schlewecke stop was closed on June 30, 1974 and the Harlingerode station in 1983.

Unusual for a branch line, the route was also used by express trains. The east-west freight traffic, on the other hand, avoided the steep incline of the Harz and drove via Vienenburg. Although the connection to the east was omitted with the inner-German border, the line remained well connected and was also integrated into the interregional network in the early 1990s .

Since the Interregio was discontinued, the route has only been served by local transport. The 2009 timetable provided for four lines every two hours , the Harzexpress, another regional express to Hanover, and regional trains to and from Braunschweig, Göttingen and Kreiensen.

Oker Ost train station to the Harlingerode zinc hut
Harlingerode station (in operation until 1983)

present

Since the timetable change in December 2014, the regional express Hanover - Halle (Saale) no longer runs via Bad Harzburg and ends in Goslar. The LNVG justifies this step with an increase in the profitability of the line through a uniform vehicle concept without tilting multiple units . In return, an hourly regional express train Bad Harzburg - Hanover was set up, which has good connections to Halle in Goslar. As part of the Europe-wide tender for the Lower Saxony Southeast diesel network (DINSO), the OHE subsidiary erixx was able to secure lot 2 with the Bad Harzburg – Hanover regional express line. The company has been operating the line for 15 years with LINT 54 diesel multiple units from the LNVG vehicle pool since December 2014 .

DB Regio was awarded the contract for lot 1, which includes the Bad Harzburg - Kreiensen and Bad Harzburg - Göttingen regional trains. The company has been operating the line for 15 years since December 2014 with modernized LINT 41 multiple units .

In October 2018, the section west of Harlingerode was rehabilitated; the superstructure was replaced with the exception of the tracks.

Renewed railway line, November 2018
Oker – Bad Harzburg railway line before (February 2018) and after (November 2018) the renovation west of Harlingerode